


Habits Die Hard

by IvyBlooms



Series: Next Generation [9]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Drabble, Family, Fluff, Gen, Next Gen, Next Generation, Papa!Sasuke, Sasuke is basically Snow White, cuteness ensues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-27
Updated: 2016-07-27
Packaged: 2018-07-27 02:09:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7599286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IvyBlooms/pseuds/IvyBlooms
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sasuke is plagued with a strange yet adorable habit and Sarada is a horrible enabler.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Habits Die Hard

**Author's Note:**

> Hello lovelies. For the longest time I chose to keep my Naruto 'next gen' drabbles/onshots on Tumblr only but recently I've decided that I will compile them here on A03 into a series. One of my favorite headcanons concerning Sasuke is that he is a closet animal lover! I imagine him on his 'road to redemption' being followed by a horde of forest creatures that he has nursed back to health along the way. To Sasuke, animals are loyal and uncomplicated whereas humans lie and are greedy and can rarely be completely trusted, thus he prefers to spend time with animals and have them as companions.
> 
> Anyway, I'm applying that headcanon here. Enjoy!

Sasuke couldn’t believe he found himself in this situation again. He’d sworn to Sakura that the last one would be it and it would never happen again. He’d kissed her cheek and swept her pink hair from her forehead with a very tiny grin, and whispered his promise easily. At the time he had meant it, he really had. But here he was again, caught in a cycle, slipping in just past midnight with a questionable bundle stored under his arm and a guilty expression across his face.

Padding quietly across the floor, Sasuke crept into their family den and placed the squirming bundle that he had been, not very discreetly, keeping beneath his cloak on the sofa. He slowly unwrapped the thing and revealed within, a pathetically small and shivering rabbit. The thing was soaked and ratty with matted hair and the end of its ear missing and bleeding. It had clearly been mauled by some larger animal earlier, perhaps a cat.

Sasuke’s heart gave a tiny throb at the state of the poor creature and brushed a hand over its head. The animal was quaking and terrified and Sasuke cursed himself for this irritating habit of his. He couldn’t bare to leave the poor thing out in the rain though and really, what was the harm?

“Papa?”

Crap. Acting quickly, Sasuke pulled the cover back over the rabbit’s body and made himself appear busy, approaching his desk and shuffling through some paper. It didn’t occur to him to even question why his daughter was still awake at this time of night.

Sarada entered the den hesitantly, her body adorned with a small pink night gown and her eyes lidded and weighed down with sleep. The girl glanced around the room before her dark eyes landed on her father, who was looking far too guilty to escape her sharp perception. Sarada instantly stiffened and her youthful gaze shot over to the small sofa where a very noticeable bulge was huffing and wriggling about. The child frowned and sighed but Sasuke could see the corners of her mouth turn up ever so slight a moment later when she approached the mysterious moving swell with childish excitement.

Removing the covering, Sarada came eye to eye with the white bunny covered in mud. Not being able to help herself, Sarada reached down and pet the rabbit’s damp fur with a blinding smile.

“Another one, papa?” She asked humorously. 

Sasuke could see that his daughter found this whole situation quite hilarious. He knew that Sakura would not, come the next morning when she found a basket full of dirtied towels and a furry ‘beast’ hopping around her clean house.

“Hn.” Was his only reply. 

Sarada giggled her childish laugh that always warmed Sasuke’s heart and he grinned gently at his daughter. Going to kneel beside his child, Sasuke placed a calming hand on the shivering animal’s back, Sarada watched in amazement as the creature’s eyes drooped and it nodded off to sleep.

“Are you going to help it, papa?” Sarada asked as Sasuke gathered the injured creature in his arms. 

Sasuke nodded and motioned Sarada to follow him into the bathroom. Together the two scrubbed the rabbit clean and bandaged its injured ear after applying a generous amount of Sakura’s healing salve. The two settled the creature, that Sarada had now cutely named Puff, into a warm basket and tucked a light sheet around it. Father and daughter then fell asleep on the living room sofa, dutifully watching over their patient, and promising to return Puff to the woods in the morning before Sakura woke.


End file.
